Writing from the Blue House

Archive for

One of the hardest questions I faced when hoping to sell Amity & Sorrow was comparing my work and my writing to someone else’s. Potential agents and publishers want to know: who are you like? But how can you know? And, if you know, how can you possibly dare to utter the name of an idol? Now that I’m out the other side of that, I can see the benefits. Placing books alongside others helps readers to find new writers. It isn’t about who we really think we write like, because the goal, of course, is to find our own voices and our own ways. Today, on We Love This Book, I’m very happy to share a screen with Rebecca Wait, whose new second novel, The Followers, sits alongside Life After Life and Amity & Sorrow very nicely. Do we three write the same? Probably not. But if it helps readers to take a chance on The Followers, which I found completely gripping, then it is all to the good! And, you know, if any of Kate’s readers want to take on my little debut novel…